Breach of U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021
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Breach of U.S. Capitol during electoral vote count (January 6, 2021)
Aftermath of the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol
Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
Reactions to U.S. Capitol breach
Events in state capitals during electoral vote certification
Counting of electoral votes (January 6-7, 2021)
Impeachment of Donald Trump, 2021

This page provides an overview of the political aftermath of the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced on June 24, 2021, that the House would establish a select committee to investigate the causes and security issues surrounding the breach.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration released a joint report on Capitol security and the government response on June 8, 2021.

As of August 2022, this article tracks the aftermath of events on Jan. 6 involving:

Inquiries and investigations[edit]

House Select Committee[edit]

See also: Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announces formation of select committee

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced on June 24, 2021, that the House would establish a select committee to investigate the root causes of the breach of the U.S. Capitol and general security issues related to the incident. She said its leadership and members would be announced later.[1]

The House passed the resolution to form the committee on June 30, 2021, by a vote of 222-190. All Democrats and two Republicans—Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)—voted to support the measure.[2]

Membership[edit]

The following representatives are members of the committee:[3]


To read more about the formation of the committee, click here.

Hearings[edit]

The committee held its first hearing on July 27, 2021. Click the links below to view videos, transcripts, and witness lists for each hearing held by the committee:


Indictments related to committee subpoenas[edit]

Steve Bannon
On July 22, 2022, a federal jury convicted Bannon on two counts of contempt of Congress for his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. The charges carry a minimum sentence of 30 days and a maximum sentence of one year in jail.[4] The charges stemmed from his refusal to appear for a deposition or provide documents to the committee. Bannon was indicted on these charges on Nov. 12, 2021.[5] Judge Carl Nichols presided over the trial.[6]

The committee issued a subpoena to Bannon on Sept. 23. After his refusal to comply, the committee unanimously voted to hold Bannon in contempt on Oct. 19.[7] The U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve the charge 229-202 on Oct. 21.[8]

Peter Navarro
On June 3, 2022, Navarro was indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress by a federal grand jury for his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, breach of the U.S. Capitol. He was charged with one contempt count for refusing to appear for a deposition and another for refusing to produce documents. The committee issued a subpoena to Navarro on February 9, 2022.[9] After his refusal to comply, the committee unanimously voted to hold Navarro in contempt on March 28.[10] The U.S. House of Representatives voted 220-203 to approve the charge on April 6.[11] On June 17, Judge Amit Priyavadan Mehta said the trial would begin on November 17.[12]

Senate Committees on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Rules and Administration[edit]

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration released a joint report on June 8, 2021, reviewing the security, planning, and response failures to the breach of the U.S. Capitol.[13]

The executive summary of the report listed the following findings regarding the event, United States Capitol Police (USCP), and other intelligence agencies:[13]

The report made the following recommendations:

“

Based on the findings of the investigation, the Committees identified a number of recommendations to address the intelligence and security failures leading up to and on January 6. Recommendations specific to the Capitol Complex include empowering the USCP Chief to request assistance from the DCNG in emergency situations and passing legislation to clarify the statutes governing requests for assistance from executive agencies and departments in nonemergency situations. To address the preparedness of the USCP, the Committees recommend improvements to training, equipment, intelligence collection, and operational planning.

The Committees further recommend intelligence agencies review and evaluate criteria for issuing and communicating intelligence assessments and the establishment of standing 'concept of operation' scenarios and contingency plans to improve DOD and DCNG response to civil disturbance and terrorism incidents. These scenarios and plans should detail what level of DOD or DCNG assistance may be required, what equipment would be needed for responding personnel, and the plan for command-and-control during the response.[14]

”
—Senate Report (Examining the U.S. Capitol Attack)[13]


Click here to read the full report prepared by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.

Legislative responses[edit]

Capitol Police Emergency Assistance Act of 2021[edit]

On December 22, 2021, President Joe Biden (D) signed the Capitol Police Emergency Assistance Act of 2021 SB 3377 into law. The bill allows "the chief of the United States Capitol Police to unilaterally request the assistance of the DC National Guard or Federal law enforcement agencies in emergencies without prior approval of the Capitol Police Board." The bill was passed by unanimous consent by both chambers of Congress, with the Senate passage taking place on December 13 the House passage on December 14.[15] Unanimous consent is when a chamber expedites a proceeding by forgoing a vote on a measure or rule and instead opens the floor to objections by lawmakers. If no member objects, then the measure is passed by unanimous consent.[16]

This policy change was among the recommendations in the joint report of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration addressing the events of January 6, 2021. Prior to this bill becoming law, the chief of the United States Capitol Police had to request approval from the Capitol Police Board, a three-member board consisting of the chief architect of the Capitol and the House and Senate sergeants at arms, to request assistance from the D.C. National Guard, regardless of emergency status. The report said that process "constrain[ed] USCP’s ability to act quickly in an emergency and delay[ed] the provision of assistance."[13]

Second impeachment of President Donald Trump[edit]

See also: Impeachment of Donald Trump, 2021

On February 13, 2021, former President Donald Trump (R) was acquitted of incitement of insurrection. Fifty-seven senators voted to convict and 43 voted to acquit. Conviction requires a two-thirds vote of senators present.[17]

On January 13, 2021, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump by a vote of 232-197 for incitement of insurrection. The resolution followed the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, which disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to count the electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election. Ten Republicans supported the impeachment.[18][19]

The resolution alleged that Trump attempted to subvert and obstruct the certification of the election results and incited a crowd to breach the Capitol, leading to vandalism, threats to members of the government and congressional personnel, the death of law enforcement, and other seditious acts.[18] Click here to read the resolution.

On January 12, 2021, Trump called the impeachment resolution the "continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics." He added, "For Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to continue on this path, I think it's causing tremendous danger to our country and it's causing tremendous anger."[20]

Republican censures following impeachment[edit]

See also: State party censures and Republican primary challenges in response to Trump impeachment, 2021

State party censures[edit]

The following table lists whether each Republican member of Congress who voted to impeach or convict Trump was rebuked or censured by his or her state party. It does not include censures from county parties.

As of April 16, 2021, five of the Republicans had been censured by their state parties and four had been rebuked. Nine of the 10 House members had Republican primary challengers.

Overview of party response to Republicans who voted to impeach or convict Trump, 2021
Official State Chamber of Congress State party censure or rebuke
Richard Burr North Carolina Senate Censure
Bill Cassidy Louisiana Senate Censure
Susan Collins Maine Senate None
Lisa Murkowski Alaska Senate Censure
Mitt Romney Utah Senate None
Ben Sasse Nebraska Senate Rebuke
Pat Toomey Pennsylvania Senate Rebuke
Liz Cheney Wyoming House Censure
Anthony Gonzalez Ohio House Censure
Jaime Herrera Beutler Washington House Rebuke
John Katko New York House None
Adam Kinzinger Illlinois House None
Dan Newhouse Washington House Rebuke
Peter Meijer Michigan House None
Tom Rice South Carolina House Censure
Fred Upton Michigan House None
David Valadao California House None

Removal of Liz Cheney from House leadership[edit]

See also: U.S. House leadership elections, 2021

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the third highest-ranking Republican in the House, was one of 10 House Republicans to support the second impeachment of President Donald Trump (R) following the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

House Republicans held a vote by secret ballot on February 3, 2021, regarding whether Cheney should be removed from leadership because of her vote to impeach Trump. Cheney retained her position with 145 votes to keep her in place, 61 to remove her, and one present vote.[21]

Beginning in late April 2021, several Republicans began to publicly criticize Cheney again for her comments against Trump and his allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.[22][23] On May 12, 2021, Cheney was voted out of leadership by a voice vote in a private meeting.[24][25]

National party censures[edit]

On February 4, 2022, during the Republican National Committee's Winter Meeting, party officials voted to approve a resolution censuring Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).[26] Both lawmakers were appointees to the House select committee to investigate the root causes of the breach of the U.S. Capitol and general security issues related to the incident. The resolution said, in part, that "Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse, and they are both utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes."[27]

In a tweet before the approval of the censure, Cheney said: "The leaders of the Republican Party have made themselves willing hostages to a man who admits he tried to overturn a presidential election and suggests he would pardon Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy. I’m a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump."[28]

In a statement on the censure, Kinzinger said: "Rather than focus their efforts on how to help the American people, my fellow Republicans have chosen to censure two lifelong Members of their party for simply upholding their oaths of office. [...] My efforts will continue to be focused on standing up for the truth and working to fight the political matrix that's led us to this point."[29]

Response from social media platforms[edit]

See also: Elected officials suspended or banned from social media platforms

President Donald Trump (R) was suspended from Twitter for 12 hours on January 6, 2021, after tweeting about alleged 2020 election fraud and posting a video in response to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.[30] Trump was also suspended from Facebook for 24 hours for two policy violations. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence."

Twitter[edit]

Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the platform on January 8, 2021. The company said in a statement, "After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence."[31]

The company said it evaluated two tweets Trump made on January 8, 2021, against its glorification of violence policy.

Twitter said Trump's decision to not attend Joe Biden's (D) inauguration was being interpreted by supporters as delegitimizing the 2020 election results and could be interpreted as providing a target for violence. Twitter also said that the tweets were interpreted by some as supportive of those involved in the January 6 attack or future armed protests.[31]

Trump said, in tweets from the official presidential Twitter account, "As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me — and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me.” Twitter temporarily limited the use of this account to prevent the evasion of Trump's initial suspension.[32]

Facebook[edit]

On January 7, 2021, Facebook extended the suspension to an indefinite period of time longer than two weeks. "We believe the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great," Facebook officials said in a statement.[33] On January 21, 2021, Facebook referred the decision to uphold or overturn the suspension to an independent body with binding decision-making rights called the Oversight Board.[34]

On May 5, 2021, the Facebook Oversight Board upheld the suspension of Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts. It also called the indefinite suspension an "indeterminate and standardless penalty" and requested that Facebook review this policy. Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs and communications at Facebook, said, "We will now consider the board’s decision and determine an action that is clear and proportionate. In the meantime, Mr. Trump’s accounts remain suspended."[35]

Trump responded to the decision in a statement on the same day:

“ What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our Country. Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before. The People of our Country will not stand for it! These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our Electoral Process.[14] ”
—President Donald Trump (R)[36]

Facebook announced on June 4, 2021, that Trump would remain suspended until at least January 2023. Facebook said it would then review if there was continued serious risk to public safety, which could trigger an extension of the suspension.[37]

Clegg said, "In establishing the two year sanction for severe violations, we considered the need for it to be long enough to allow a safe period of time after the acts of incitement, to be significant enough to be a deterrent to Mr. Trump and others from committing such severe violations in future, and to be proportionate to the gravity of the violation itself."[37]

Effect on counting of electoral votes[edit]

See also: Counting of electoral votes (January 6-7, 2021)

Several Republican senators and representatives announced prior to January 6, 2021, that they planned to object to certain electoral votes due to allegations of voter fraud and irregularities. On December 30, 2020, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) became the first senator to do so.[38] Eleven other senators announced on January 2, 2021, that they would also object to the electoral votes from certain states:


At least 140 House Republicans also planned to oppose counting the electoral votes, according to CNN.[39]

Following the breach of the Capitol, several Republicans withdrew their objections. No senators joined objections to the electoral votes from Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada, as had been planned.[40]

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) said on the Senate floor, "When I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider and I cannot now, in good conscience, object."[41]

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ↑ Politico, "Pelosi announces select committee will investigate Jan. 6 attack," June 24, 2021
  2. ↑ CBS News, "House votes to create select committee to investigate January 6 attack," June 30, 2021
  3. ↑ House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, "Membership," accessed June 29, 2022
  4. ↑ The Hill, "Jury convicts Bannon of contempt of Congress," July 22, 2022
  5. ↑ Department of Justice, "Two Charges Filed for Failing to Honor House Subpoena From Select Committee Investigating Jan. 6 Capitol Breach," November 12, 2021
  6. ↑ Politico, "Judge sets July 18 for Bannon ‘contempt of Congress’ trial," December 7, 2021
  7. ↑ Reuters, "U.S. House committee backs contempt charge against Trump aide Bannon," October 20, 2021
  8. ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "House Votes to Hold Steve Bannon in Criminal Contempt of Congress," October 21, 2021
  9. ↑ United States Department of Justice, "Peter Navarro Indicted for Contempt of Congress," June 3, 2022
  10. ↑ Roll Call, "Jan. 6 panel: Scavino, Navarro should be held in contempt," March 28, 2022
  11. ↑ Roll Call, "House votes to hold Navarro, Scavino in contempt of Congress," April 6, 2022
  12. ↑ The Washington Post, "Former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro pleads not guilty to contempt," June 17, 2022
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 U.S. Senate, "Examining the U.S. Capitol Attack: A Review of the Security, Planning, and Response Failures on January 6," June 8, 2021
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  15. ↑ Congress.gov, "All Information (Except Text) for S.3377 - Capitol Police Emergency Assistance Act of 2021," accessed January 5, 2022
  16. ↑ Senate.gov, "Glossary," accessed January 5, 2022
  17. ↑ The New York Times, "Live Senate Vote Results: Impeachment Charge Against Trump," February 13, 2021
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Associated Press, "Republicans block measure calling for quick removal of Trump," January 11, 2021
  19. ↑ CNN, "House Democrats introduce impeachment resolution, charging Trump with 'incitement of insurrection,'" January 11, 2021
  20. ↑ NBC New York, "Latest Updates: Trump Calls Impeachment Push ‘Continuation of Greatest Witch Hunt,'" January 12, 2021
  21. ↑ CNN, "House Republicans vote to keep Liz Cheney in leadership after she defends her impeachment vote," February 3, 2021
  22. ↑ Politico, "McCarthy and Cheney worlds apart after Florida retreat," April 27, 2021
  23. ↑ The New York Times, "Tensions among House G.O.P. leaders rise as a possible Cheney ouster looms," May 4, 2021
  24. ↑ Politico, "Cheney booted from Republican leadership spot," May 12, 2021
  25. ↑ The New York Times, "House Republicans Oust Liz Cheney From Leadership," May 12, 2021
  26. ↑ Independent, "GOP censures Cheney, Kinzinger, moves to pull out of debates," February 4, 2022
  27. ↑ Twitter, "Allan Smith on February 4, 2022," accessed February 4, 2022
  28. ↑ Twitter, "Liz Cheney on February 3, 2022," accessed February 4, 2022
  29. ↑ Twitter, "Adam Kinzinger on February 3, 2022," accessed Ferbuary 4, 2022
  30. ↑ NBC News, "Facebook and Twitter lock Trump's accounts after posting video praising rioters," January 6, 2021
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Twitter, "Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump," January 8, 2021
  32. ↑ TechCrunch, "President Trump responds to Twitter account ban in tweet storm from @POTUS account," January 8, 2021
  33. ↑ Facebook, "Our Response to the Violence in Washington," January 7, 2021
  34. ↑ Facebook, "Referring Former President Trump’s Suspension From Facebook to the Oversight Board," January 21, 2021
  35. ↑ Facebook, "Oversight Board Upholds Facebook’s Decision to Suspend Donald Trump’s Accounts," May 5, 2021
  36. ↑ ABC News, "Trump responds after Facebook ban extended pending additional review," May 5, 2021
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Facebook Newsroom, "In Response to Oversight Board, Trump Suspended for Two Years; Will Only Be Reinstated if Conditions Permit," June 4, 2021
  38. ↑ The Washington Post, "Hawley’s plan to contest electoral college vote certification ensures drawn-out process," December 31, 2020
  39. ↑ CNN, "At least 140 House Republicans to vote against counting electoral votes, two GOP lawmakers say," December 31, 2020
  40. ↑ CBS News, "Key Republican senators withdraw objections to Electoral College count after Capitol siege," January 7, 2021
  41. ↑ ABC News, "Some GOP senators reverse objections to Electoral College certification after protesters storm Capitol," January 6, 2021
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